


Hopeless

by just_jilyy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-06 23:48:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18861436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_jilyy/pseuds/just_jilyy
Summary: A short story in which James Potter discovers that he may not be hopeless in his affection for Lily Evans after all.





	1. Hopeless

**Author's Note:**

> I cannot get enough of these two! I seem to have this little obsession with Lily wearing James’s Quidditch jumper. So here’s this little drabble that has been stuck in my head for the past couple weeks. This originally began as a one-shot, but there are two parts to this story. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing! xox

Lily Evans woke with a start to the sound of her cat meowling in the distance. This irked her nerves for two reasons: one, it was a cold Saturday morning late in March and she had planned on sleeping in while most of the other students spent their morning in Hogsmeade, and two, Crooks—her curmudgeonly orange cat was making a racket from down in the common room, which meant that one of her roommates had let he slip out while Lily was still sleeping.

  
Crooks was a fine cat, to Lily and the other girls in the sixth-year girls’ dormitory he was downright loveable, but he tended to be a menace to all the other Gryffindor students—stealing socks and chewing his way through secret candy stashes. It was because of these tendencies that Lily didn’t let Crooks have free roam of the common room unless she was down there as well, but he seemed to sneak out quite often despite Lily’s efforts.

  
“Shite.” Lily groaned, rolling over in her bed. She threw her heavy down comforter off her, the chill of the room racking her body with a shiver as her bare feet touched the cold stone floor.

  
After six years, Lily supposed she should have known to at least wear socks to bed in the winter, but she wasn’t keen on sleeping in a lot of layers. In fact, she suffered a lot of teasing at the hands of her fellow dorm mates—Marlene McKinnon, Mary MacDonald, and Dorcas Meadows—for her current choice in sleepwear. Despite their teasing her that she was hopeless, Lily couldn’t bring herself to get rid of the perfect sleepwear.

  
She had come across a jumper in the common room at the beginning of the year and the oversized thing paired perfectly with her knickers with the Gryffindor lion across the arse. The sleeve hung down just over her hands, the neckline slopping down and exposing one shoulder while the hem hit her just at mid-thigh. The scarlet material of the jumper was soft and silky and felt divine against her skin, and the smell—Lily had placed a restorative charm on it so that the scent of vanilla and cinnamon didn’t fade away—was incredible. It was just warm enough to keep her cozy and not overheated while she slept.

  
Squinting her eyes—maybe if she didn’t open them all the way going back to sleep wouldn’t be hopeless—she picked her way across the dorm and to the door. She opened it a crack and peeked out.

  
The common room was empty, the only noise coming from the soft crackle of flames from the fireplace. Lily pulled the door open further and spotted Crooks near the couch, where the ornery cat was batting a chocolate frog back and forth between his large paws.

In a hurry to get back to her warm bed, Lily decided to risk the quick retrieval of her cat without dressing further. After all, the common room was empty, and her stolen borrowed jumper covered her to mid-thigh anyway.

  
She tip-toed down the stairs, trying not to startle Crooks. Lily breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the bottom of the stairs and sank her cold, bare feet into the plush rug that covered the common room.

  
Clicking her tongue, Lily bent down and wiggled her fingers to get her furry beastie’s attention.

  
“C’mere Crooks.” The cat paused in its game with the frog and looked up, its tawny eyes meeting Lily’s. “C’mere then. Be a good cat.”

  
She took a step forward, reaching to pick up the cat, but he had other ideas and quickly slunk under the couch and out of Lily’s reach.

  
“Damn.” Lily sighed. She lowered herself to her hands and knees so she could look under the couch. “Crooks, this is not funny.”

  
From the position she was in, Lily knew that anyone who entered the common room would have a sight to see—Lily Evans with her arse in the air, the Gryffindor lion displayed proudly across her knickers. The quicker she got her cat, the quicker she could escape back up the stairs and under her warm blankets.

  
She swiped her arm out under the couch; Crooks, however, remained out of reach.

  
“C’mon you bloody stubborn creature. I just want to go back to bed!” Lily groaned, glaring at her cat. Crooks purred, his tail swishing contentedly as he settled himself down beneath the couch.

  
“Alright Evans?”

  
Lily’s head shot up, slamming into the underneath of the couch as she rose. Lily had been so distracted trying to extricate Crooks that she hadn’t heard the footsteps of the boy who now stood mere feet away from her, leaning against the banister of the staircase with his arms crossed over his chest and a crooked smirk on his face.

  
Shite. Bloody fucking shite.

  
From his perch at the bottom of the stairs, it was very clear that James Potter had just had a very clear view of Lily’s arse, covered only by none other than her Gryffindor knickers. Lovely.

  
And while that was embarrassing enough, she hoped against everything that he may possibly have been distracted enough to not notice the back of the jumper she was wearing.

  
“Er…hullo Potter.” Lily replied, rising to her feet and rubbing the back of her head where she had smacked it. She could feel the blush rising up her throat and into her cheeks.

  
“Need some help?” he asked, his hazel eyes dancing with amusement.

  
“Nope! No thanks. You can just go along to Hogsmeade. I’m sure Sirius, Remus, and Peter are all wondering where you are.”

  
James laughed, pushing himself away from the banister and moving a step closer to her. “They’ve all got detention with Filch today, so I’m staying in the castle.”

  
Lily swallowed, not quite able to meet his eye. “Hmm. Well, I’m sure you’re busy so…goodbye.”

  
He shrugged, sliding his hands into the pockets of his trousers. “Don’t have any plans yet. But why aren’t you in Hogsmeade right now?”

  
Lily bit her lip. Damn, why didn’t he leave? All she wanted was to get her damn cat and go back to bed and have James Potter never, ever see the back of the jumper she was wearing with only a pair of knickers.  
“I wanted to sleep in.” she replied, her voice coming out a little more strained than she was happy with.

  
James looked at her curiously and Lily felt her blush flame up as his eyes traveled the length of her body, resting briefly on her bare legs before meeting her eyes again.

He cleared his throat. “Er, right. So, what’re you doing down here, digging around under the couch then?”

  
“Crooks escaped the dorm. I didn’t want him stealing socks or anything so I was trying to get him back up there so I could go back to sleep.”

  
“Ah. I see.” James nodded. “Let me try then.”

  
James moved to step around her, but Lily was quicker, taking two steps back so that he didn’t have to move behind her to kneel in front of the couch.

  
James tapped the ground just in front of the couch, clicking his tongue as he did so. “C’mon Crooks. Come out, I’ll get you a treat if you come out now.”

  
Lily watched as her cat—the filthy little traitor—crawled out from underneath the couch covered in dust and straight into James’s arms. She glared at him, crossing her arms over her chest.

  
“Thanks then, Potter.”

  
James turned to her, a smile lighting his face. He was scratching Crooks just behind his ears, causing the menace to purr in delight. “No problem, Evans.”

  
James took a step towards her, moving to hand her back her cat when his eyes moved to her chest. She had brushed her long auburn hair back over her shoulder, revealing the patch sewn into the right breast pocket of the jumper she was wearing. Lily winced and grabbed her cat, holding him close against her chest and hoping James hadn’t gotten a close enough look.

  
“Wait a minute.” He said, his eyes narrowed. “What was that?”

  
“What was what?” Lily asked, trying to sound innocent, though the blush staining her cheeks gave her away.

  
“Is that…” James trailed off, looking up at Lily. His brows were furrowed in confusion. “Are you wearing my Quidditch jumper?”

  
Lily didn’t know it was possible for her face to get any redder.

  
“Um…”

  
Before she could try to come up with some form of an explanation, James grabbed her shoulder and stepped around her. He reached up and moved her hair to the side, his fingers brushing her neck as he did. She attributed the goosebumps that rose on her skin to the cold draft in the room.

  
He was still holding her in place by the shoulder, so she couldn’t turn away to keep him from seeing the large golden letters—spelling out POTTER—splayed across the back of the jumper.

  
His hand dropped off her shoulder, but Lily still didn’t move. She closed her eyes, wishing more than anything that she was old enough to Apparate. She would be very far away from where she currently was.  
“I thought I lost that jumper.” James said. Lily couldn’t help but notice his voice was strained.

  
Still, she said nothing. Crooks began squirming around in her arms, not happy with her tighten grip around him.

  
“I thought I lost it, and here it is…” James said again. “Here you are, wearing it to bed.”

  
Lily’s face, which had been slowly returning to a more normal state, flamed again.

  
“I meant to give it back.” She replied, her voice barely above a whisper.

  
“Keep it.” James said, his voice fiercer than he probably intended. He cleared his throat. “If you want to, I mean.”

  
Lily bit her lip, trying and failing to contain the smile that was spreading across her face.

  
She didn’t turn, but she nodded. “Okay. Thanks.”

  
Without waiting for him to say anything more, Lily stepped away, hurrying towards the stairs as she clutched Crooks to her chest.

  
She could feel James’s eyes on her as she climbed the staircase quickly, though she didn’t turn around. It was only when she was safely in her dorm, right before she closed the door completely behind her, that Lily spared one last look at James Potter through the crack in the door.

  
He was sitting on the arm of the couch looking down at his feet in amazement. His hand was tangled in his unruly hair and he was shaking his head.

  
“Maybe it’s not completely hopeless after all.” He muttered, his words drifting up to Lily just before the door shut with a click.

  
She returned to her bed, plopping Crooks down on top of the comforter where he proceeded to knead the blankets until he deemed them comfortable enough to lay down. Lily couldn’t suppress the smile on her face, and she shook her head at herself.

  
Still, she couldn’t help but think, Potter wasn’t as hopeless as he seemed to think.


	2. Hopeful

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2, because I got a few requests and I wasn't quite ready to let this story end.

James was laying on his four poster, hands behind his head and feet swinging to the Beatles tune he was whistling when the other three Marauders found him that evening after their detention.

“Oi, what’re you so chipper about?” Sirius grumbled as he threw himself down on his own bed.

“I’m feeling pretty ruddy hopefully, that’s all.” James replied, grinning as he sat up.

Sirius groaned and plopped his pillow over his face. “No doubt because of some dumb thing Evans did.” Came his muffled reply.

Remus rolled his eyes and sat on the trunk at the foot of his bed. He retrieved a chocolate bar—one of Honeyduke’s finest—as he spoke. “Don’t mind him, he’s just being a prick because Filch had him shoveling dung into the pumpkin patch by Hagrid’s for fertilizer while Pete and I polished trophies.”

James laughed and Sirius grumbled some more—something about Remus and Peter being arse-kissers to Filch so they got the easy work—though the pillow over his face made his words unclear.

“Anyway, what’s got you so hopeful Prongs?” Peter asked, settling himself on the trunk at the foot of James’s bed.

“I didn’t lose my Quidditch jumper, like I thought I had.”

Remus and Peter exchanged a look, confused as to why something so trivial had James in such a good mood. Usually, the only things that could have his spirits high enough to hum the Beatles was a really ace prank of an encounter with Lily Evans that didn’t result in James being hexed.

“Er…that’s great Prongs. Where was it then?”

James’s grin grew as he ruffled his hair. “Evans has it.”

This remark captured Sirius’s attention enough for him to sit up, placing the pillow that had been covering his face against the headrest and leaning back onto it. “You’ve been hopeful about this bird going on six years now Prongs, what’s so different about today? She had your jumper, so what?”

“You don’t get it, Padfoot. She didn’t just have it,” James paused and gestured for Remus to toss him a piece of chocolate. After the candy had been distributed to all three boys, James continued. “Hogsmeade was boring without you three so I came back here. I planned to grab my broom and head out, but Evans was in the common room trying to get her cat out from under the couch.”

“Bloody menace, that cat.” Sirius interrupted.

“Shut up Padfoot,” Remus laughed, “You’re a little biased on the subject of cats.”

“I don’t understand what this had to do with your jumper.” Peter said, interrupting before Sirius could argue further.“Was she setting it on fire or something?”

“I was getting there, and no.” James rolled his eyes, but his grin was still wide across his face. “Anyway, I helped her get the cat and that’s when I noticed. She was wearing my jumper.”

“You didn’t notice when you first saw her?” Remus asked, eyebrow raised. “You would’ve seen your name first thing if you were coming from the portrait.”

“Yeah mate,” Sirius barked out a laugh, “We all know you’ve perfected the practice of cataloguing every detail of Evans in under two minutes flat.”

James’s ear turned pink. “I was…er…distracted.”

Sirius sat up, a smirk on his face. “What was so distracting, Prongs?”

“See, that’s the thing. Evans was wearing my jumper…with just her knickers under it.” James said the last part quickly, his face flaming, though he was not embarrassed enough to wipe the grin off his face.

Remus’s eyes went wide, and Peter chuckled, but Sirius looked the most shocked out of the three. While Sirius had known that Evans’s feelings for his mate were warming up, he had no idea that she was feeling friendly enough feelings to sleep in James’s jumper in only her knickers.

“So, you saw Lily Evans wearing your jumper and her knickers?” Peter laughed, “I bet she was embarrassed!”

“Er…yeah, she seemed a little uncomfortable.” James replied. His hand found its was to his hair unconsciously. “But that’s why I feel a little bit hopeful.”

“Hold on, mate.” Sirius said, holding his hand up to stop the three others from talking. “Why was she wearing her knickers in the common room?”

“I second that question.” Remus said. He still looked baffled by the situation.

“Apparently she sleeps in them. My jumper and her knickers, that is. She only ran down there because she thought everyone was in Hogsmeade and she wanted to gather Crooks and go back to sleep.” James said.

Sirius shook his head in wonder. “I can’t believe Evans would be so daring. Anyone could’ve walked in. You walked in!”

“I’m surprised she didn’t hex you.” Remus chuckled. He reached for another piece of chocolate only to grasp the empty wrapper. “Damn. We were supposed to restock in Hogsmeade today.”

James’s grin grew even wider. “Like I said, I’m hopeful. Now, let’s go to dinner, I’m starving.”

The four of them clambered out of their beds, Peter tripping over a pair of shoes Sirius had left in the middle of the room and made their descent into the common room. Most of the students were already in the great hall, as dinner had begun nearly twenty minutes ago, but there was a certain red head sitting in the chair by the fire, feet tucked under her as she turned the pages in her book.

She looked up at the racket the four of them were making, and James was surprised to see a nervous smile on her face. The four boys stopped at the bottom of the stairs, watching curiously as Lily placed her bookmark in the pages, grabbed a small package from the table beside her, and rose to meet them halfway across the common room. Sirius prodded James in the middle of his back, urging him forward.

“Hullo Evans.” James said, ruffling his hair.

“James.” Lily nodded, a slight smile on her face. She leaned to look around his shoulder at the other Marauders. “Hello boys.”

They all grinned and waved, trying to hide their surprise at her civility towards James paired with the fact that she had called him James rather than the infamous ‘Potter’. Lily turned back to James and held out the package to him.

“Here.”

“What’s this?” James asked, raising an eyebrow as he took the small wrapped box.

“A thanks for helping me get Crooks back this morning. Bloody menace, that cat.” Lily laughed. Sirius grinned, elbowing Remus in the side and giving him an ‘I told you so’ look. “Plus, none of you went to Hogsmeade today, so I didn’t want you to be missing out.”

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, the blush on her cheeks was hard to miss.

“You didn’t have to do that.” James said. Sirius cleared his throat. “But thank you, really.”

“Right.” Lily nodded, clasping her hands together in front of her. “Well then, I’m off to dinner.” With one last wave at the other three, and a quick smile—accompanied by a deeper blush staining her throat—at James, Lily hurried out of the portrait hole, leaving the four boys standing in the common room, stunned.

“What’d she get you then?” Peter prodded, breaking the silence.

James turned to his mates and unwrapped the gold packaging. Beneath the crisp paper lay a box full of Honeyduke’s finest chocolate bars, Pepper Imps, and Sugar Quills—all their favorites.

Remus, spotting the chocolate, grinned. “I’d marry Lily Evans in a heartbeat.”

James shot him a look as Sirius laughed. “Evans sure can be surprising.”

“Yeah.” James managed, looking at the box in his hands as that hopeful feeling surged through him again. “She really can.”


End file.
